Veronica J. Hinton is an Associate Professor of Neuropsychology (in Neurology and in the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center) at the Columbia University Medical Center. She is a developmental neuropsychologist who researches the cognitive profile of various pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Hinton received her BS in Biology and Psychology at Columbia University. She attended graduate school at the City University of New York, and received a PhD in Psychology with a specialization in Neuropsychology in 1994. During her graduate training, she was awarded a fellowship at the Center for Developmental Neuroscience affiliated with the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Hinton completed a clinical internship in neuropsychology at Hillside Hospital and the Long Island Jewish Hospital in Hillside, NY, and post-doctoral training in developmental psychobiology at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She was appointed to the faculty of the Sergievsky Center and the Department of Neurology of Columbia University in 1996.

Research Summary

The main focus of my work is studying the cognitive characteristics associated with different pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders. I have a particular interest in working with children who have disorders of known genetic etiology, allowing for study of the neurobiological basis of the cognitive phenotype. My primary research is in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, where we have demonstrated a specific cognitive profile of selectively weak verbal immediate memory, even among children of average intellectual function. This research has been funded by NICHD, NINDS, CDC and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Our ongoing work will 1) further elucidate the cognitive aspects of the disorder, 2) investigate gene - cognition correlations within the group, and 3) examine the neurological basis for the observed cognitive deficits. In addition, I have served as a committee member for NIH, the CDC and multiple parent organizations involved in planning and developing research and care considerations for children affected with muscular dystrophy.

I also collaborate on numerous other studies of neurodevelopmental disorders as the study neuropsychologist. These include a study of glut-1 deficiency syndrome (Darryl De Vivo, M.D. is the PI), mitochondrial disease (Salvatore DiMaruro, M.D. and Darryl DeVivo, M.D. are the Pis), febrile seizure (Dale Hesdorffer, Ph.D. and Shlomo Shinnar, M.D. are the PIs), and Niemann-Pick disease (Marc Patterson, M.D. is the PI). For each study, children are evaluated on a battery of neuropsychological tests to determine whether any characteristic cognitive profiles are associated with the specific disorders.